Hammermills tend to have their capacity reduced as material is fed into their input. Also the hammers on the mills tend to stress harden as they rotate in one direction. One of the cures for the above problems is to periodically reverse the hammermill. Such reversal will unplug the mill if it is plugged. The reversal will also cause the stress on the hammers to be transferred to the opposite side of the hammers. Such reversal of stress on the hammers will increase their service life more than double the service life if the hammers are not reversed.
One of the problems with reversing the hammermill rotor is the modification of the air control equipment mounted inside of the mill. Most air control equipment is either removed and remounted on the opposite side of the mill, or it is swung over to the other side using pivots and levers to accomplish the transfer.
The hammermills with the movable type air control equipment are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,279 issued to A. W. Lemmon et al, which has a first inlet deflector 55 which is reversible to either side of the inlet, depending on the direction of the rotor. Deflector 55 co-operates with 80 to accomplish the direction change. U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,921 issued to O. Danyluke et al, has a pair of members 30 mounted in the bottom of the mill to act as dust deflectors, along with a pair of breaker blocks 24 each of which must be adjusted for proper operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,307 issued to Gerald R. Olson illustrates a deflecting apparatus mounted in the inlet to attempt to control the flow of air. The device, however, must be moved each time the rotor is changed in direction. Reissue U.S. Pat. No. 23,468 issued to J. G. Wilson is like the Olson patent in that a member 30 must be changed each time the rotor is reversed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,397 is the closest to the subject mater of this invention but does not solve the problem of reversing the mill rotor since the plate 50 must be detached and reattached each time the rotor is reversed. The plate also restricts the inlet thus limiting the amount of material that can be handled by the mill at any one time.